PROPAGATIOlSr AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 19 2 8 391 



the fish and to plant the consignment properly in the waters speci- 

 fied on the application. 



The bureau has five specially equipped distribution cars that 

 travel over the various railroads. Each car is equipped with cooling 

 compartments, in which the fish are carried, and air compressors and 

 pumps for forcing compressed air into the water to renew the supply 

 of oxygen. Deliveries on the main lines of railroads as a rule are 

 made direct from the bureau's distribution car while the train is 

 making its customary stops. 



Detached trips are made quite frequently from the distribution 

 cars, each shipment being in care of an employee of the car. For 

 example, a messenger leaves the car at a designated point with 25 

 or 30 pails of fish, proceeds to such places as can not be reached con- 

 venientlv bv the car, delivers 8 or 10 consionments of fish, and then 



Figure 3. — Delivering fish to an applicant while the train makes its customary stop 



returns to the car at some point farther down the line. As a rule, 

 fish are delivered to applicants either by the bureau's distribution 

 cars or by a messenger traveling in a baggage car. 



Within recent years many fish have been delivered by automobile 

 trucks to points within 50 or 60 miles of the propagating stations. 

 Many of the States have adopted the bureau's method of transporting 

 fish and have provided pails to replace the old-fashioned milk cans. 

 The State of Pennsylvania has seven 2 to 3 ton heavily built trucks 

 wath bodies 12 by 6 feet. On each truck is arranged a double carrier 

 forming an aisle through the middle, which permits the carrying 

 of 80 pails of fish. The longest trips made by these trucks is 300 

 miles, a 15-hour drive, which is being clone w^ith perfect safety to the 

 fish even during the hot summer months. The pail will carr}- fully 

 as many fish as a 10-gallon can. 



After loading a truck, if the weather is w^arm, the ice hopper of each 

 pail is filled with ice and a tarpaulin cover put over the top of the 

 truck. When an allotment is small and the applicant lives off the 



